UP police failed in arresting Nand Kishore Valimiki, the prime accused in the Agra religion conversion case, who is on the run since December 7.
An FIR was lodged against Valmiki for facilitating the alleged conversion of 57 Muslim families in Agra under sections 153 B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 415 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. Circle Officer (CO) Sadar of Etah district, Aseem Chandra, said the police team missed an opportunity to arrest Valmiki and his associate Rajeshwar Singh who is region head of the Dharam Jagran Manch. Both were in Etah for the past couple of days.
However, during the raids, the Etah police managed to arrest Valmiki’s son Rahul and another RSS activist Krishna Kumar on Saturday night. While Rahul was arrested from Krishna Marriage Hall in the city, Krishna was nabbed from his residence in Mehta Park. The police also seized the Valmiki’s car from Krishna Marriage Hall. The officer said both the arrested have been taken to Agra for further interrogation.
Valmiki is a history sheeter and had been jailed for smuggling of liquor and had also been booked under Gangsters Act at Shahganj in 2001. In November, 2001, officials of Excise department had arrested Valmiki and two others with 264 bottles of foreign liquor-allegedly were smuggled from Rajasthan - were recovered from a car in their possession. Gangsters’ Act was later invoked against them later. A charge sheet had been filed against Valmiki in the 2001 case of Shahganj and trial is underway. He is currently out on bail.According to the police, Valmiki is a member in BJP’s Braj region unit and had also contested local body elections in 2012. He, however, had lost the polls.